Page 148 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
Rayna tried hitting them with a lightning bolt, shaking as she pulled a tiny bit of renewed power to send it. The bolt bounced off the sorcerers’ shield and burned the grass nearby. Shifters and humans on the ground tried piercing the barrier, but they rebounded from it as well. There was no sign of it weakening.
Shafts of darkness began to form and elongate from the trio, easily passing through their shield to stretch toward us. With each line of their chant, they grew. We had minutes until they would hit us at the rate they went, and I had no doubt they’d stop our magic as soon as the tendrils touched our orb.
The rays of light curing the Kandoran now reached far beyond my line of sight. They were still working, saving people and dragons who we would otherwise have to kill. Only the orb could cure them since they were too far gone for sorcerers to cure.
We needed every moment possible since it was likely cleansing dozens or more a second. Too many lives had already been lost to the sorcerers’ evil, and we needed to save as many as we could.
The trio stopped about a hundred feet from the tower. Falcon, Sabryn, Zoran, and Galadon were chomping at the shield, sparks shooting off their teeth. Others chopped and poked at it with their weapons. I knew what they were thinking. If the Kandoran could break through ours, we could surely do the same to theirs. But did we have time for that?
My heart skipped a beat as the tendrils of darkness approached the tower. If we stopped, the orb would shut downin seconds and explode. If we kept going, the sorcerers’ spell would hit and possibly kill us since we were connected.
Conrad drew in a deep breath. “Clear the fuck away from the sorcerers!”
He screamed the command so loudly that the fighters below couldn’t have missed it.
They hesitated, looking in his direction. He screamed it again as the dark tendrils reached the tower's edge. At best, we had thirty seconds left before it would be too late.
“Please, go,” I screamed, hoping they’d listen to me.
Falcon roared and backed away. Finally, the others did the same in a quick scramble.
Conrad’s face scrunched. “Everyone, let go of the orb now!”
It was like moving my fingers through thick mud, but I did it at the same time as the rest of the group. As soon as we released our touch, Conrad lifted the bright sphere high, as it continued to shoot golden streaks from it. He drew back like a baseball player and threw the orb with all his might at the trio below.
“Take that, motherfuckers!”
It zoomed straight through their shield as if it wasn’t there and struck the female in the middle. A massiveboomsounded, knocking us onto the stone floor. Fiery red and orange light exploded from that same direction, blindingly bright. I had to cover my eyes as heat swept over me before flowing past us.
Everything became quiet until all I heard was my panting breaths.
I peeked through my fingers, checking to see if it was safe. No one around me moved, but they all appeared unharmed. I rose onto my elbows. Down below, there was a crater where the three sorcerers had stood. There was no sign of them or the orb.
Conrad sat up with a grin. “Damn, was that a badass throw or what?”
“Your aim has definitely improved,” I said.
“Hell yeah, it has.”
“How did you know to do it?” I asked, frowning at him. That idea could have gone horribly wrong. I’d only followed along because I didn’t have a better plan, and we were out of options.
He shrugged. “I heard Allison’s voice in my head, telling me what to do.”
“Oh, great.” Danae groaned as she slowly sat up. “We won because you listened to the voices in your head.”
Conrad grinned. “You know it, girl.”
Aidan and Phoebe rubbed their heads, making me wonder if the magic had hit them harder. It took several moments until my mate focused on me, relief in his gaze when it met mine. There had been some scary moments at the end.
“That is what I call too close for comfort,” Rayna said from where she lay flat on her back with her arms spread. “I’m going to sleep for a week after this.”
Aidan grunted. “We have a lot of cleaning up to do first.”
“Ugh. You couldn’t let me live in my fantasy land for a minute?” she asked, turning her head to glare at him.
“My apologies.” He gestured outward. “But you don’t see what I do.”
One look at the land around us confirmed what he meant. Dead and injured from both sides were scattered as far as the eye could see in the late-night darkness, while many of the surviving Kandoran were now waking and looking lost.
